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Palm Island Town Centre

Combining local knowledge and specialist skills, our Townsville team have created a town centre masterplan balancing cultural, tourism, commercial, retail and recreation opportunities for the small tropical community of Palm Island.

Challenge

Surrounded by crystal waters, Palm Island is a small island in Northern Queensland and home to a population of just over 2,500. Being an island community there are challenges with access to retail and commercial services with the closest regional city of Townsville nearly a two-hour ferry ride away.

To boost the local economy, State and Federal Government funding has been allocated to further develop the town centre, to not only provide better facilities and services for the community, but boost opportunities for tourism, employment and new business.

Solution

Engaged by Economic Development Queensland (EDQ) in 2015, our expert team developed a preliminary masterplan for the town centre encompassing a retail and commercial precinct, and a health care centre. Our planning team prepared a statutory planning framework to facilitate site specific development assessment processes for the town centre.

Our local urban design, planning and landscape architecture specialists engaged with the Palm Island Aboriginal Shire Council, EDQ, and the Queensland Department of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships to develop the masterplan and planning framework. To provide clear direction for the town's future growth, the plans included:

Functional connections to existing open space and buildings
Tourist traffic flow and arrival experiences
Adherence to local authority requirements
Inclusion of existing commercial and community operations
Active transport and parking options
Design of the main street.

As part of masterplan, the Palm Island Primary Health Care Centre opened its doors in April 2019, and the first of the retail buildings is under construction.